1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates, generally, to a sheet diverting system, and more specifically, to a sheet diverting system of a printing press.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the art to separate printed products, typically folded products supplied from a printing machine into discrete paths. These systems are generally large in size and complicated in construction which results in the diverting system frequently jamming. Early attempts to solve the jamming problem involved diverting systems that used toggle type diverters formed of guide members that switched between two positions to direct sheets to a specified path. However, these systems had a tendency to catch the sheets and had synchronization or timing problems with the timing of arriving sheets, particularly with short sheets.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,027 to Littleton teaches a sheet diverting system formed of a set of upper diverting cams and a set of lower diverting cams. The rotating diverting cams are positioned and synchronized so that sheets are alternately directed toward either an upper delivery system or a lower delivery system. Each set of diverting cams includes at least three diverting cams displaceable along a cam shaft so as to be adjustable to different sheet widths. However, the Littleton taught diverting system is quite complicated and expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,146 to Richter teaches another sheet diverting system that separates a vertically directed supply stream of sheets into at least two discrete delivery paths. The Richter taught diverting system has two separate and distinct sheet travel paths. The upper travel path is formed of two transport belts each revolving around a respective deflection roller. In addition, the upper travel path has a cover shield for assisting in transporting the sheet along the upper travel path. The lower travel path is formed of two transport belts each revolving around a respective deflection roller. Sheets are diverted into one of the two travel paths by a common rotating element. However, because the Richter taught diverting system diverts vertically (as opposed to horizontally) delivered sheets, no parts of the upper and lower travel paths are common with the exception of the common rotating element and is therefore more complicated and expensive to manufacture than is necessary. In addition, the Richter taught invention is limited to handling sheets delivered in a vertical fashion.